From District 12 and Beyond
by Lady Shadowdawn
Summary: A collection of one-shot song fics based on the Soundtrack. Multiple characters POV will be explored.
1. Abraham's Daughter

Author's note: So the premise of this Ficlet will be a collection of One-shots. Each will be based off the songs of the District 12 and Beyond Soundtrack. This is quite a project for me since there are 17 tracks on the album. If you have listened to it, most songs are about Katniss so there will be quite a few from her POV but as I listen more and more to it I can see some of the other characters in the different styles of music and content.

I have rated this M because there will be swearing and more than likely references to violence and sexual content.

As always the disclaimer: I do not own any of the HG characters. I'm just playing with them. ;)

**Abraham's daughter by Arcade Fire**

I am the watcher. The historian. The mother. The father.

I have watched my body swell and evolve. I have watched myself grow desolate and cold. But all the while I have watched my children through the centuries. I have been proud. I have been ashamed.

I have felt rage. I have felt love. I have felt despair. But always I am silent. I am the watcher.

**Abraham took Isaac's hand**

**And led him to the lonesome hill. **

**While his daughter hid and watched,**

**She dare not breath she was so still.**

And silent I have been while I watch the latest chapter unfold in my children's lives. Mother's and Father's leading their children to slaughter. Starvation and slavery imposed on them by their brothers. But silently and obediently they watch, as I watch silently. Years have past as we silently watch, tears again spilling forth with the knowledge of another era of my children lost to despair. And I wonder if they will gather the courage to speak against the cruelty of their brothers.

**Just as an angel cried for the slaughter,  
Abraham's daughter raised her voice.**

I am the watcher and cannot speak for my children. They must break the chains of silence on their own. As years pass and my tears are steady, one raises the voice of reason. Of opposition. Of freedom. And I watch as it spreads like wildfire, this idea of freedom, of hope.

**Then the angel asked her what her name was,  
she said I have none.  
Then he asked how can this be,  
my father never gave me one.**

And when the knowledge of this rebellion has fallen upon the ones with deaf ears the question is asked who would cause this chaos. And I watch as those who I could not name, and who their brothers have not bothered to name, only number step forward. They are determined. They shout that they are equal. They will no longer be silent. They will not be led to the slaughter any longer.

**And when he saw her raised for the slaughter,  
Abraham's daughter raised her bow.  
How darest you child defy your father,  
you better let young Isaac go.**

And I watch as my children again go to war. It is a lesson that they have not learned through the centuries. This war is just they cry, and they fight on. And I am silent when they end the slaughter, the slavery, the oppression. And I feel love as they vow to me that they will no longer fight with their brothers and sisters. They vow they will no longer silently watch their brother's and sister's pain. They will defy all odds to keep their children safe. And I wipe my tears; I will smile for as long as my children will allow it.

I have felt love. I have felt hope. But I am the watcher and I have felt despair. And I will be silent when my children eventually break their vows. And my tears will flow again.


	2. Tomorrow Will Be Kinder

**Tomorrow Will Be Kinder by The Secret Sisters**

Haymitch POV

**Black clouds are behind me I now can see ahead  
Often I wonder why I try hoping for an end  
Sorrow weighs my shoulders down  
and trouble haunts my mind  
But I know the present will not last  
and tomorrow will be kinder**

"One more fucking day", that's all I keep telling myself. Only one more day and I can leave this room and drown my nightmares in the bottom of a bottle. I know I'm a bastard for thinking this way, for being so goddamn selfish. But as I watch the vitals of my boy declining I can't help but hope that he'll give into the freezing temperatures. I've watched twenty-eight children go to their deaths, technically twenty-seven until this poor one finally gives out. Faces of each one that I've lost flood through my mind every day that I sit in this room, watching the screens, trying to secure sponsors. Every year I hate myself a little more because I haven't been able to save one of them, not one goddamned kid yet. And as my mind wanders to my living nightmares, my body aches for my only true companion, but each year I make a promise to stay sober long enough to try to help, maybe one year I will actually help and one of them will stay alive. If only I could get one out, it's a prayer I whisper every year. It always goes unanswered.

**Tomorrow will be kinder  
It's true I've seen it before  
A brighter day is coming my way  
Yes, tomorrow will be kinder**

The monitor beeps as his heart rate slows, dangerously close to giving up. It's not the best way to die slowly freezing to death but I wonder if it would have been better if he went at the Cornucopia like the girl. This is gentle compared to how she was ripped apart by the Careers.

**Today I've cried a many tear and pain is in my heart  
Around me lies a somber scene  
I don't know where to start  
But I feel warmth on my skin  
The stars have all aligned  
The wind has blown but now I know  
that tomorrow will be kinder**

I can't stop the silent tears that come every time as the monitor in front of me flat lines. When I've taken in every detail of his face to add to the collection in my mind, I lean forward and gently turn the screen off. As I look around I see that there aren't many mentors left in the room. It's unusually quiet this year, this arena with its bitter snow and ice has claimed many of the tributes itself. It's been the biggest competitor and kept many of the sponsors away. Even the Career tributes have been hard pressed to find anyone willing to donate when they have hardly been entertained. The lives of these children aren't enough for them to be interested in saving. And without being entertained why bother investing.

**Tomorrow will be kinder  
It's true I've seen it before  
A brighter day is coming my way  
Yes, tomorrow will be kinder**

Every minute that the train chugs along gets me further from the Capitol. I've come to terms long ago that I'll never have another happy day in my life. Whoever decides our fate is not a friend of mine. But as I think of the two children whose bodies I carry with me, at least I can say that they are free of this fucked up world. How they died should never be forgotten, it should be condemned in fact. I'm not brave enough or stupid enough to say so without my white liquor coming out of my pores. Tomorrow will be kinder to me though, I'll be drowning at the bottom of a bottle. I'll have a year of kinder days until my nightmares are my waking moments again.

**Tomorrow will be kinder  
Yes, tomorrow will be kinder**


End file.
